CEM5, thanks for reposting. I had in fact somehow missed your reply!
I’d always wondered about the thief on the cross & the concept of Paradise… Jesus tells him he’ll be in Paradise with Him that day. I’ve always assumed Paradise meant Heaven. But after He rose from the dead, He told Mary (?) not to touch Him b/c He hadn’t been to heaven yet… So… that would imply a) Jesus went somewhere else while He was “dead” & b) Paradise is not “Heaven”… Since we know Christ went to preach to the “souls in prison”, He would have kept His word on both counts if He personally delivered the thief to Paradise. This makes sense.
In my upbringing, Sheol, Hades & Ghenna have all been used as synonyms for hell. Paradise was always synonymous with heaven. There was no “in-between”. It was either you die & go to Heaven or Hell… instantly. This is part of what led me to Catholicism in the 1st place- this kind of stuff gets glossed over on the Protestant side simply b/c no one can seem to explain it!
So… since Jesus already preached to the souls in Paradise, where does purgatory fit in?
Hi faithtrekker,
Once the souls from Sheol were released, there was no need for Sheol, since heaven was opened to us; nonetheless, hell still remains.
God has said that nothing unclean/impure can enter heaven, however, many of us die with the stain of venial sin(s) so we must enter a “state” of being purged of those venial sins.
Purgatory - the so-called place of “fiery” purging of sins, “made clean”, is alluded to in the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Fire purifies, (purges), cleanses impure things from elements.
Numbers 31:22-23, “Whatever can stand fire, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead, you shall put into the fire, that it may become clean; however, it must also be purified with lustral water.” (Lustral water is the water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer cf. Num. 19:9)
Isaiah 6:5-7, Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this (fiery, burning coal) has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
1 Corinthians 3:12-15, 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
The works are what Christians have done, some referred to as gold, silver, etc - those are the “good” works that will not be consumed by fire, for they are pure, (good works). The other works described as wood, hay, straw - those are the “sinful” works, the ones that will be consumed and purged by fire. (The venial sins).
This “place” is typically referred to as “purgatory” - and it is more a “state” than an actual place, just as the fire is not a literal fire, but the state of being purged of impurities than those who are saved (going to heaven) must be cleansed of before entering heaven. God has declared that nothing unclean (impure; sinful) can enter heaven, and how many of us die in a state of sinlessness?
Those people, who are in grave sin, and bound for hell, do not get to be purged. Nothing can cleanse them for they have turned their backs on the saving grace of God (Jesus). Those are “mortal sins”. Many of us die with venial sins.
That is why many (perhaps most? ) who are headed towards heaven, must first pass through the “state” (some call it “place”) of Purgatory. Since most of us die with some stain of sin (venial sins), yet not mortal sin, and do not merit eternal hell, we must pass through the cleansing fire of purgatory where, like gold is purified in fire to be rid of impurities, we too are purified to become “perfect” (ie: sinless). For in Rev.21:27, nothing “unclean” will enter heaven, and sin makes us unclean.
“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (CCC 1030).
This reality of purgatory, even though the actual word does not exist in Scripture, is described, and in 1 Corinthians 3, the Latinate word purgatory means a purgation or burning by fire.
Hope that helps
